VLE and Moodle

Management / Reflections / VLE and Moodle — 2 Comments
25
Aug 11

360 Appraisal Module for Moodle

Having completed a 360 review as part of the NCSL ‘Leading from the Middle’ and found the feedback very useful, I was keen to learn more about Kineo new ‘360 appraisal module for Moodle.’

This new plug-in module allows organisations to run 360 appraisals directly within Moodle and can be downloaded here.

The module allows organisations to create a competency structure that learners will be reviewed against and a customisable grading scale. Once the competency structure has been created a user can undertake a self-assessment before inviting a defined number of people to also rate them against the competency framework.

360_spiderweb2The data is then presented in either a table format or visually as a spiderweb-graph where self and peer responses can be easily compared and analysed. All available under a GPL License.

Want more detail?

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Popularity: 100% [?]

Digital Learning / VLE and Moodle — No Comments
6
Jul 11

Moodling

Over the pass few weeks, away from the day to day role of being an Assistant Headteacher, I have been Moodling. Most of my spare time has been spent writing Moodle courses, learning and applying the new features in Moodle 2.03+ and contributing to the Quality Assurance testing procedures on the test site. Despite my lack of experience in software development, the team at Moodle HQ were encouraging and supportive and I am pleased to say that I was able to ‘pass’ at least a few tests and contribute to the overall QA process.

I have also been learning more about the new admin features in Moodle 2 and settings as well. I attended a very positive Moodle 2.0 training day with Perins School, lead by the fantastically enthused Mary Cooch and look forward to taking a little more control over the learning flow using course completion, conditional activities.

I have installed my first plugin (Book Modules) and successfully conducted my very first Moodle update (Moodle 2.02 to 2.03+). I am in the process of moving to Moodle 2.1 and waiting for the php upgrade required by my hosting company to run it. All new learning for me. One advantage of taking part in the QA was the availability of the new features, the quiz engine looks impressive but I not sure where or how often I will use the activity cloning tool. One area I am particularly interested in is assignment submission and the notifications between facilitator and students, again improved in Moodle 2.1.

I have written and road tested a ‘Course Design 101‘ training course for Moodle that applies the ‘Connect, Activate, Demonstrate, Consolidate, Broadcast and Badge’ learning model and role models effective course design. Feel free to experiment. Next on the agenda, more Moodle course design.

Popularity: 10% [?]

VLE and Moodle — 2 Comments
30
Jun 11

Moodleanywhere

I would like to thank Webanywhere for the invitation to speak at their annual conference. Moodle is a wonderful teaching and learning tool and I hope that there are at least a few ideas you can implement. Also, I would like to thank @MatthewJeffreys for his friendship and professional enthusiasm.

 

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Popularity: 13% [?]

#Success / Teaching / VLE and Moodle — No Comments
23
Jun 11

Gradebooks and Gamification

For those of you that share my advocacy for Moodle, you may not share my advocacy for Moodle’s gradebook. I know its hard to get into, but its really worth your time. Now, add to the mix, a professional interest in gamification and there is even more reason to explore this great Moodle feature, given this EXTRA credits video.

 

Well worth your time
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The very first video I watched from these creative educationalists.

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Popularity: 20% [?]

VLE and Moodle — 1 Comment
21
Jun 11

Mapping our Moodle Roadmap

Over the pass few weeks, away from my day to day duties, I have been either Moodling or in Moodle conversation. Most of my time has been spent investigating and applying the new Moodle features, supported by a very useful purposeful training event lead by the fantastically enthused Mary Cooch. I have spent time reviewing the new Moodle admin tools, learning how to upgrade and adding blocks to Moodle and finally contributing to the Quality Assurance Testing of Moodle 2.1 and visiting the ‘tracker’ listings. The later providing invaluable understanding and broader appreciation of Moodle, to inform our own Moodle roadmap.

Planning the Move to Moodle 2.+

Having made the decision to target Sept 2012 here is our roadmap.

August 2011 – Fresh installation of Moodle 1.9.11, Install Moodle 2.1 Dev site.

Sept 2011 – Student Digital Leader training (day workshop plus online course).

Oct to Dec – Staff focus group meetings. ‘What are the expectations for the VLE?’ Whole school benchmarking for course development, possibly linking to the BSG block. Staff expectations for Moodle 2.+ aligned with UPS Professional Attributes P2 and P7. Share VLE with ‘Parents for Parents’ focus group. Engage ICT and mentor programme to prepare whole school launch for Sept.

Jan to Feb 2012 – Directors of Learning, Student Services and Mentor Programme meetings to plan and organise course infrastructure, repositories, scales and outcomes.

Feb to Apr 2012 – Upgrade to Moodle 2.2. Staff advocate training with Student Digital Leaders (blended). DoL meeting – VLE review.

Feb – Apr  2012 – Department based training programme.

Apr – Migrate content to 2.2 production site. (Easter break)

May – Launch ‘NEW’ VLE to staff.

May – Directed time to developing VLE

Jun – Reports to DoLs of BSG progress.

July Upgrade to 2.3 if appropriate.

Sep – ‘NEW’ VLE to all students through ICT and mentor programme.

VLE to be added to teaching and learning observations and Performance Management.

There is a learning curve upgrading Moodler knowledge from 1.9 to  Moodle 2.0+. Notably the most anticipated Moodle 2.0 features, conditional activities and course completion, benefits ‘active’ participation (not discounting the impact of many other new features and UI improvements). To that aim I have been writing and road testing ‘Course Design 101‘ a training course for Moodler upgrade.

The course first requires a Moodler to think through course design and ‘blueprint’ a Moodle course over a gradebook framework and examples both conditional activities and course completion.

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101CCSecond, the course requires a Moodler to build and then lead a course, with other enrolled users acting as their students. As a consequence they experience both ‘teacher and student’ viewpoints, for conditional activities and course completion.

As with many Moodle courses, you learn alongside  the students and I intend to make some revisions and additions over the next few weeks. For example, I am waiting for the new quiz engine, before adding a quiz and I really want to use the new blog feature.

Feel free to enrol and work through the course. Eventually, I aim to make it available for other Moodle institutions so if there is value in that idea, let me know.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

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